


The Heart of Atlantis

by amadscientistapproaches



Series: Atlantis AU [2]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Atlantis AU, Gen, Hostage Situation, a giant floating crystal, angst and betrayal and all that jazz, i'm tired and I don't know if it's any good but take it, lots of confusion and doubt for Stan, lots of emotions for poor Dipper, with added floating children
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 20:42:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15693015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amadscientistapproaches/pseuds/amadscientistapproaches
Summary: Stan's betrayal leaves Ford reeling, and the only way to get him to cooperate is with hostages. Fortunately, there's a couple little ones around who will do nicely . . .Based off astriiformes and saisai-chan's Atlantis AU on tumblr. Still in love with it :)





	The Heart of Atlantis

Ford stared at his brother’s set face, and then at the gun held loosely in his hand.

“I am _such_ an idiot,” he realised.

“Only if you say no,” quipped Rourke.

“No,” said Ford immediately.

Rourke shrugged easily. “Alright, the interesting way it is.” He snapped his fingers and pointed at Dipper and Mabel. “Grab the kids.”

Ford threw himself towards them but Rourke’s henchmen got there first. They seized Dipper and Mabel out of the lake in a shower of water – which was a mistake: they might have looked twelve, but they had two thousand years of fighting experience to back them up.

Mabel kicked her weight forward with a shout as she was brought up, making the man holding her shift off-balance. When he stumbled, her feet momentarily touched the ground and she twisted, the man turning with her enough that when she slammed an elbow into his gut he toppled over completely, a vicious knee to the face on his way down knocking him out.

With the man covering her brother, Dipper didn’t so much pinch the nerve under his elbow as tear at it as hard as he could. The boy was dropped with a howl of pain, rolled, drew a knife from nowhere and slashed it across the man’s thigh, not showing so much as a wince of distaste.

They were still only kids though, and as soon as they had won they automatically raced to their sibling’s side.

There were still thirty or so more soldiers in the clearing.

Someone fired a gun. The shot took Dipper’s knife out of his hand, and in the instant that he and Mabel were frozen in shock, two more soldiers descended upon each of them.

“Mabel!”

“Dipper!”

Ford’s heart wrenched as they were wrested away from each other and forced to their knees with their hands behind their backs. The secondary guard on each of them made sure to keep his weapon trained on their heads.

“How about now, IQ?” Rourke said lazily. “Wanna give finding that Heart another go?”

Ford looked desperately at Stan, but he had remained resolutely in the same place. The only change was that he was now glaring daggers at the man who had fired at Dipper. When he turned to Wendy, she looked coolly right back at him. Soos was staring in great discomfort at Dipper and Mabel’s struggles.

“Okay then.” Rourke nodded, even though Ford hadn’t said anything. “Grab the Journal and let’s start with . . .” He spun around to Mabel. “Did I hear you mention a throne room, sweetie?”

“Don’t call her that,” snapped Ford and Stan together.

“Do I _pay_ you to talk?” Rourke said to Stan irritably.

Ford got out of the pool and grabbed the Journal. Spitefully, he took his pants as well, mustering up whatever meagre amount of defiance he could.

 

◊

The Atlantean guards immediately dropped their weapons when they saw Rourke had the last surviving members of the royal family as his hostages. He kicked open the doors to the place, strode jauntily inside and began issuing his orders.

“Search this place. I don’t want a single stone left unturned, do you hear?”

“It’d have to be a pretty big stone,” Stan frowned. “That mural we found made the Heart look huge,”

“Then we’re looking for ways to get to where it _is_ hidden,” said Rourke, going over to a reclining sofa on a raised dais and making himself comfortable.

As far as Ford could see, there weren’t going to be many clues to that, either. For one thing, the throne room was more of a court than a room: it was outdoors, sparsely decorated, home to very little in the way of possible clues. The main feature was the green pond taking up most of the stone floor, the stepping stones inside it making a pattern of some sort.

“Stanford – read this, put that brain to work,” Rourke waved him over and shoved a piece of paper covered in Atlantean writing into his hands. It was the missing page of the Journal.

Ford took it and walked as far away as he dared, but before he started reading it, he looked over at Dipper and Mabel again, held a few paces before the dais steps.

Stan was crouching in front of them, speaking quietly and seriously in Spanish. Ford couldn’t understand it. It _looked_ like he was imploring them to cooperate, but Stan _knew_ the kids didn’t know anything about the Heart, didn’t he? Mabel was staring at the floor, but Dipper was glaring daggers right back at him. When he moved to put a hand on the boy’s shoulder, Dipper hissed something that made him flinch back as though scalded.

“Stan . . . we trusted you,” Mabel said, finally looking up at him. She might as well have slapped him, as far as Ford could tell. Wordlessly, he stood back up and walked distractedly in Soos and Wendy’s direction, passing Ford.

“Seeing sense yet?” Ford couldn’t stop himself from saying in an undertone.

Stan stopped. “Are you?” he retorted.

Ford raised his eyebrows incredulously. “Am I? _I’m_ not the one who’s holding children hostage!”

“I’m not holding anyone hostage,” said Stan stubbornly.

“Oh, yes, that’s all Rourke, isn’t it? Nothing whatsoever to do with you, or your presence here, or your _paycheck-_ ”

“Look, he’s not going to hurt them, alright?” Stan growled, but he looked away from Ford.

“ _Are you kidding me?_ Do you _actually_ think that? ‘Oh yes, I’m Commander Rourke, I want to wipe out every last trace of an entire civilisation – but not those two kids standing in the way of me becoming unfathomably rich, no, _they_ can live-’”

“Figured it out yet, Sixer? I’m getting a little _impatient_ is all,” Rourke drawled, swinging his feet off the table they had been resting on.

Ford reluctantly broke off the argument. Bringing the page back up, he scanned the runes for anything useful.

“Come _on,_ Pines,”

“It doesn’t say anything,”

“There’s a whole page full of writing there, so no. Not gonna believe that,”

“It doesn’t tell me the location!” Ford insisted. “All it says is, ‘The Heart of Atlantis lies in the eyes of her king.’ So, as the last king of Atlantis died when the city sunk, that’s the end of the trail,”

“Well, that’s not strictly true, is it?” said Rourke thoughtfully.

“What do you mean? That’s what happened, the kids told me so themselves,” said Ford, firmly quenching the rising cold feeling in his stomach.

“Yeah, the kids,” nodded Rourke. “And speaking of, isn’t one of _them_ going to be the king of Atlantis someday?”

In the sudden silence, Rourke’s arm shot out and grabbed Dipper, dragging him around in front of him. With his other hand he drew his pistol, cocking it deliberately slowly and placing it against Dipper’s forehead and he was saying something about counting to ten but Ford didn’t really hear it over his own shouting and attempts to get free of someone’s iron grip and it looked like Stan had flinched violently but now he was restrained too and Soos and Wendy were frozen and Mabel was screaming and Dipper was stammering that he _didn’t know what it meant he didn’t know where it was_ and howwasRourkealreadyatnine?!

“Te-” Rourke stopped. He was staring over Dipper’s head, at the centre of the pond. Seemingly in a trance, he lowered the gun and straightened up, walking over to its edge. The hands clamping down on Ford’s arms loosened.

As soon as Rourke released his hold, Dipper sank to his knees, breathing hard. Mabel twisted her arms until her captor was forced to release her, and she raced to her brother’s side, hugging him as tightly as she could, repeating his name over and over.

Rourke stepped onto the stones in the pond. Ford’s wide eyes followed him, scattered thoughts clicking against each other in his head until a connection was made.

If the pattern of the stones were viewed from above, they would look oddly like a letter of the Atlantean alphabet – like they were marking an important place in the city . . .

As soon as Rourke stepped onto the central stone, it jolted, sinking into the shallow water, then touching the bottom of the pond and continuing its descent.

“Get on!” ordered Rourke.

Ford jumped across the stones to do so. One of the soldiers made to grab Dipper and Mabel, but Stan beat him to it, all but shoving him away while he rapidly got the shaken twins to their feet and onto the platform as well. Two more soldiers managed to squeeze on before the disc was full. For the second time in as many hours, Ford descended into darkness.

 

◊

There were a _lot_ of thoughts whirling around in Stan’s head, but he couldn’t concentrate on any of them over the pounding of his heart ( _did Rourke really just threaten to do that?_ ) – no, not thinking about it. He couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t think, because . . . because of this secret cave! That would do as a good distr- as a good thing to think about, much more so than the fact that he could still hear the kids’ ragged breathing – _stop it._

The platform ground to a halt. Rourke led the way off. Stan found himself staring around the dark cavern, wondering what the Heart of Atlantis would really look like. Big, sure, and probably bright. Maybe a luminescent crystal of some sort?

Unconsciously, he lifted his hands to touch Dipper and Mabel’s shoulders. The way they immediately shrugged him roughly off brought him out of his thoughts. He didn’t have the heart to try and reassure them of his presence a second time ( _because really, how is that gonna help? The last thing they want is_ you _here_ ).

His eyes adjusted to the change in light. The new colour was blue, like the crystals the Atlanteans wore . . .

At the same time as Ford, he looked up into the darkness.

Except it wasn’t darkness.

Far above them, spinning slowly, supported by and attached to nothing, a blue sun hovered.

It was like fire had been coloured and then made into a liquid form – a crystal (if it was a crystal – Stan didn’t think that definition fit anymore) unlike anything he’d ever seen. Carved stones orbited around it, depicting the faces of bearded men – presumably the past Atlantean kings; eyes glowing blankly, expressions spiritual and meditative. He thought he could hear a low-level humming.

The kids fell to their knees, pressing their foreheads to the ground. At first, Stan thought they had tripped or something, but then he heard their muttering: quick, rhythmic, and in unison.

“Get them up,” said Rourke harshly, eyes affixed on the revolving star.

“Kids?” said Ford softly, crouching beside them. He laid a hand on each of their backs. Dipper flinched and Mabel gasped, startled. It was like they’d forgotten what was happening.

“I’m sorry,”

Dipper looked at Stan’s brother for a moment before nodding, something approaching fear on his face. It was an improvement to downright terror, at least. _That_ expression would be seared onto Stan’s memories for the rest of the entire foreseeable future.

Mabel let out a breath, tried to smile, and helped her brother to his feet.

Rourke stood at the edge of another shallow lake, whose surface shimmered as the rays of light from between the kings passed across it. Still examining the Heart, Rourke dipped the toe of his boot into the water.

A thrum went through the chamber, the soft blue light instantly changing to a vivid, bloody red without so much as a pulse of warning. The kings all of a sudden appeared far less placid.

Rourke called Ford over and started talking to him, demanding and impatient. Ford argued back, gesturing at the Journal, trying to explain something or other to the seemingly deaf military man but Stan wasn’t listening. One of the red swathes of light, shining through the gaps in the kings, had passed over Dipper and Mabel – and it had stilled, fading back to blue. The cavern was bathed in a kind of calmness again, but this was different. The stones didn’t revolve. The lights didn’t slide over the walls. _This_ calm was waiting. Breathless. Expectant. Quiet, except for the rising of Ford and Rourke’s argument.

The crystals Dipper and Mabel wore around their necks floated upwards, as though they were magnets attracted to the Heart. The kids themselves went still, tension draining from their muscles, their eyes locked on the kings above. A small dot of light reflected off their dilated pupils.

First Mabel’s crystal crept up, and Dipper’s lowered; then the positions switched, with Dipper’s straining more towards the ceiling.

 _Like they’re being weighed up,_ Stan thought, focusing all his attention on the bobbing crystals.

A decision seemed to be reached, and Stan wasn’t sure how he knew that it was a decision, but it _was._ The blue circle of light that the twins were being bathed in shifted, and now Mabel was more in its centre. The dot of reflected light in her eyes expanded, flooding her whole pupil with blue, then her iris, then the rest, until her eyes were as blank as the kings’ above. Her face was smooth, relaxed, mouth slightly agape. Both children’s breaths had evened out completely.

Then Mabel took a step forward, making for the edge of the lake. The divine beam of light followed her path, or perhaps guided it. Stan made to move after to . . . he didn’t even know. Pull her back? Shake her until she snapped out of it? What the hell was happening, what was wrong with her?

A small hand caught gently at his shirt before he could do anything. Dipper looked up at him, eyes as blank as his sister’s.

“Do not be afraid, Stanley Pines,” he said, trance-like, meditative, _many-voiced_. “She’s safe,”

Stan couldn’t think why, because clearly whoever was speaking to him wasn’t exactly _Dipper_ , but all the same, he believed him.

Ford and Rourke and finally noticed what was going on. They were rendered silent until Ford found his voice.

“Mabel?” he asked uncertainly.

Mabel stepped out into the lake . . . and onto the surface of the water.

Ford’s jaw dropped and he whipped his head around to stare at Stan, who was just as gobsmacked. When they both looked back at the scene, neither could take their eyes off it.

Ripples emanated from under Mabel’s bare feet as she walked on the water as surely as if it was solid, her head tilted back, eyes still gazing, transfixed, at the Heart of Atlantis until she was directly beneath it. The stone blocks of the kings opened outwards around the ball of light like a flower, flooding the cavern with even more brightness. The crystal hovering at Mabel’s chin-level rose several more inches, creeping inexorably towards the Heart, straining to get to it even though it would eventually be tugged back by Mabel’s wei-

Mabel’s feet left the water. Limply, she rose up through the air, gravity seeming to have relinquished its hold on her, her bracelets and hair floating around her, revolving steadily upwards, being led by the crystal at her neck and the crystal on high.

She reached the mass of boiling energy and passed through easily, coming to a halt in the centre of the sphere, arms out from her sides as though trying to feel every bit of her surroundings that she could. The kings began to spin around the Heart faster and faster, blurring together, the blue light becoming blinding, the hum intensifying like some great machine building up more and more power, readying its energy for –

The crystal Mabel was wearing flashed, leaving blinding purple streaks on the back of Stan’s retinas, but he still couldn’t look away. She was hidden from view for a moment, the ultra-brightness of the Heart covering her completely.

It died down slowly, as did the hum, as did the movement of the kings. The Heart had disappeared inside their orbit – but no. It wasn’t gone. It had transformed.

The power that had previously run and roiled in a ball like the sun was now far more tranquil, and smooth, and contained. It was inside Mabel.

It had turned her skin translucent and blue. The strands of her hair were now one single mass, unidentifiable as anything but a whole, still floating around her, borne by unseen and unfelt winds. She _shone._

She was lowered down again. When she reached the water, she once again placed one foot in front of the other and walked over the lake.

“. . . Mabel?” mumbled Dipper’s voice. Stan broke his staring to look down at the boy. He was blinking as though he’d just woken up. His eyes widened as he stared at his sister, expression a far cry from the placidity he had shown previously.

With an almighty crash, one of the stone kings dropped from above, landing in the lake and throwing the stillness into complete disarray. The glow in its eyes was gone.

Another crash, another king.

“MABEL!” Yelled Dipper, but she hadn’t been hit. She continued to walk sedately and expressionlessly towards them, splashed water rolling off an invisible shield around her. One by one, all the kings crashed down around her, none of them doing so much as causing a drop of water’s harm.

She stepped ashore, and kept walking.

“Mabel?” whispered Dipper, almost whimpered, as his sister, or whatever had _been_ his sister, came towards him. She didn’t look at him. She didn’t look at anything.

Dipper lurched at her, trembling, as she passed, but Stan wrapped an arm around him before he could do anything more, expelling a shout that sounded too loud: “Don’t touch her!” He didn’t want to think about what would happen if anything unprotected came into contact with that much raw energy. Regardless, Dipper struggled to break free, calling out to his sister, to Ford, to _Stan,_ for help, for his mother, for his father, straining and crying and unable to stop while Stan did his best to hold him still and shush him and tell him . . . well, he couldn’t tell him that it was going to be okay. He didn’t know what okay was, anymore.

The Heart of Atlantis continued on forwards.


End file.
